Abstract Purpose To determine the association between
supervisors’ leadership style and autonomy and supervisors’
likelihood of supporting job accommodations for backinjured
workers. Methods A cross-sectional study of supervisors
from Canadian and US employers was conducted
using a web-based, self-report questionnaire that included a
case vignette of a back-injured worker. Autonomy and two
dimensions of leadership style (considerate and initiating
structure) were included as exposures. The outcome, supervisors’
likeliness to support job accommodation, was measured
with the Job Accommodation Scale (JAS). We
conducted univariate analyses of all variables and bivariate
analyses of the JAS score with each exposure and potential
confounding factor. We used multivariable generalized linear
models to control for confounding factors. Results Atotal
of 796 supervisors participated. Considerate leadership style
(b = .012; 95 % CI .009–.016) and autonomy (b = .066;
95 % CI .025–.11) were positively associated with supervisors’
likelihood to accommodate after adjusting for appropriate confounding factors. An initiating structure
leadership style was not significantly associated with
supervisors’ likelihood to accommodate (b = .0018; 95 %
CI -.0026 to .0061) after adjusting for appropriate confounders.
Conclusions Autonomy and a considerate leadership
style were positively associated with supervisors’
likelihood to accommodate a back-injured worker. Providing
supervisors with more autonomy over decisions of
accommodation and developing their considerate leadership
style may aid in increasing work accommodation for backinjured
workers and preventing prolonged work disability.